Company Encourages Homeowners to Schedule a Heating System Tune-Up Ahead of Cold Weather to Prepare Their Homes

Norwalk, CT – September 21, 2017 – HomeServe USA (HomeServe), a leading provider of home repair solutions, will celebrate National Tune-Up Day on September 25th. Established in 2014, the day is meant to educate and raise awareness among homeowners around the importance of proper home heating system maintenance. Recognized by the National Day Calendar, National Tune-Up Day is representative of HomeServe’s broader efforts to provide homeowners with solutions that defend against unexpected expenses and the challenges of emergency home repairs.

“With the winter season around the corner, National Tune-Up Day serves as an annual reminder for homeowners to get their heating systems in optimal shape,” said Tom Rusin, CEO of HomeServe USA. “Maintaining heating systems with some simple preventative measures – some of which require the assistance of a professional technician – can assure that homeowners sail through the winter without any heating system issues or costly repairs.”

Homeowners are advised to schedule a tune-up before turning their heating system unit on for the season to proactively and more inexpensively make sure their heating equipment is operating properly to avoid surprises when the first cold snap arrives. By receiving a tune-up from a professional technician, homeowners can trust that their heating system is working efficiently and also safely by, for example, making sure that there are no blockages in their flue or exhaust vent. Such blockages can lead to potential exposure to carbon monoxide and become hazardous if undetected. According to HomeServe, homeowners should make a habit of tuning up heating and cooling systems ahead of seasonal changes to protect themselves from preventable risks.

During a heating system tune-up, professional heating technicians will typically have the following checklist:

Check safety systems and controls

Check/adjust thermostats

Check/adjust burners

Check/clean pilot

Check/clean gauge and flush low water cut-off

Check filters and belts

Check flue pipe and chimney draft

Check oil motors and pumps

Check/clean blower assembly

Check condensate line if applicable

According to the Winter 2017 edition of the Biannual State of the Home Survey – a report from HomeServe exploring the state of Americans’ readiness for emergency home repairs and other ongoing expenses, found that 71 percent of Americans did not believe it was likely that they experience a major home repair emergency in the following 12 months. Yet over half of Americans (54 percent) reported having had a home emergency repair in the year prior, showing the gap between reality and expectations when it came to repair issues. Faulty heating or air conditioning systems can make for especially burdensome and expensive home repairs – something tune-ups can help protect homeowners from, by preventing failures or malfunctions later.

HomeServe offers home heating protection plans, including plans that provide tune-ups. HomeServe also offers service plans for water, sewer, electrical and other home emergencies. All plan holders have the same access to a Repair Hotline that is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and a network of employed or local, licensed and insured technicians available to come to their home for repairs. More information is available at www.HomeServeUSA.com.

About HomeServe

HomeServe USA Corp. (HomeServe) is a leading provider of home repair solutions serving 3.1 million customers across the US and Canada under the HomeServe, Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) and Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) names. Since 2003, HomeServe has been protecting homeowners against the expense and inconvenience of water, sewer, electrical, HVAC and other home repair emergencies by providing affordable repair coverage and quality local service. As an A+ rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business, HomeServe is dedicated to being a customer-focused company supplying best-in-class repair plans and other services to consumers directly and through over 475 leading municipal, utility and association partners. For more information about HomeServe, a 2016 Connecticut Top Workplace winner and recipient of seventeen 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, please go to www.homeserveusa.com. To connect with HomeServe on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.twitter.com/homeserveusa
and www.facebook.com/HomeServeUSA.

Company’s Interior Plumbing & Drainage Service Plan Recognized in New Products and Services – Business Products and Services Category

Norwalk, CT – September 20, 2017 – HomeServe USA (HomeServe), a leading provider of home repair solutions, has won the Gold at the prestigious Golden Bridge Awards® for their Interior Plumbing and Drainage (IPD) repair service plan designed exclusively for AARP members. The Company’s solution was recognized within the New Products and Services – Business Products and Services category.

The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program encompasses the world’s best in organizational performance, innovations, products and services, executives and management teams, women in business and the professions, innovations, best deployments, product management, public relations, marketing, corporate communications, international business, and customer satisfaction programs from every major industry in the world. Organizations from all over the world are eligible to submit nominations including public and private, for-profit and non-profit, largest to smallest and new start-ups.

The awards were presented in San Francisco on September 18, 2017 during the annual Red Carpet Golden Bridge Awards Ceremony. HomeServe’s IPD plan, designed for AARP members, was honored as the Gold winner in its category for raising the bar for service plans, offering homeowners best-in-class, comprehensive coverage of pipes and fixtures throughout the home.

HomeServe’s IPD plans, including the AARP version, have already saved homeowners tens of millions of dollars in repair costs, with HomeServe’s network of qualified plumbers performing over 125,000 jobs in the last three years, ranging from minor fixes to major repairs. HomeServe’s 24-hour emergency repair hotline, available 365 days a year, further strengthens the caliber of the winning service plan. The IPD plan provides valuable financial protection, one-call repairs and even plays a role in enabling water conservation by helping homeowners address leakage more quickly and conveniently.

“It’s an honor to be named a winner by Golden Bridge Awards for our industry and peer recognition,” said Tom Rusin, CEO of HomeServe USA. “Our mission is to free our customers from the worry and inconvenience of home emergencies. This starts with developing high quality products that provide real value to our customers when they need them most. We’re thrilled to receive this award as recognition of our product team’s effort to continuously raise the bar and deliver the best possible plans for our customers.”

Golden Bridge Awards are an annual industry and peers recognition program honoring best companies in every major industry from large to small and new start-ups in North America, Europe, Middle-East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin-America, Best New Products and Services, Best Innovations, Management and Teams, Women in Business and the Professions, Case Studies, Customer Satisfaction, and PR and Marketing Campaigns from all over the world. Learn more about Golden Bridge Awards at www.goldenbridgeawards.com.

About HomeServe

HomeServe USA Corp. (HomeServe) is a leading provider of home repair solutions serving 3.1 million customers across the U.S. and Canada under the HomeServe, Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) and Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) names. Since 2003, HomeServe has been protecting homeowners against the expense and inconvenience of water, sewer, electrical, HVAC and other home repair emergencies by providing affordable repair coverage and quality local service. As an A+ rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business, HomeServe is dedicated to being a customer-focused company supplying best-in-class repair plans and other services to consumers directly and through over 475 leading municipal, utility and association partners. For more information about HomeServe, a 2016 Connecticut Top Workplace winner and recipient of seventeen 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, please go to www.homeserveusa.com. For information on SLWA visit www.slwofa.com and for SLWC visit www.slwofc.ca. To connect with HomeServe on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.twitter.com/homeserveusa and www.facebook.com/HomeServeUSA.

Home Maintenance is a key factor for aging Americans wishing to remain in their own homes

According to U.S. Census data, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to rise 35 percent from 2010 to 2020, and a growing trend for this population is “aging in place.” A comprehensive study on this subject by AARP explains,

“this means to grow old in the home where one raised children or in another non-institutional setting in the community. During a lifetime, people develop connections to place and form relationships with neighbors, doctors, hairdressers and shopkeepers. They become intimately familiar with the route to downtown, the rhythm of summer concerts at the band shell park, the best places to get a coveted burger and personalized greeting. These associations, of value to both the individual and the community, cannot be quickly or easily replicated in a new environment. In essence, they can play a pivotal role in successful aging.”

A group of Georgia Institute of technology researchers conducted a comprehensive study of how aging affects one’s ability to perform home maintenance tasks. This study explored the issues that older adults have with maintaining their home and issues that they might foresee in performing those tasks in the future. The researchers also investigated the services, products, technologies, and remodeling options older adults considered or used that could help them.

There were 44 participants between the ages of 66 and 85 and they conducted 11 group interview sessions. They were asked to fill out a Background Questionnaire and Technology Experience Questionnaire at home and return them to the experimenter at the time of the interview.

From the interview responses, the researchers developed a list of the most difficult home maintenance activities. These included cleaning, outdoor, home upkeep, repair, indoor update/remodel, movement within the home (specific to performing maintenance tasks), and other. The vast majority of the commentary related to these difficult categories.

The total number of comments made by participants that were related to difficult home maintenance tasks was 316; nearly 70% were cleaning-related or outdoor-related. Difficult tasks categorized as cleaning included vacuuming, tidying, changing bed linens, washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the toilet, taking out the garbage, and general cleaning. Outdoor tasks included mowing the lawn, painting the outside of the home, cleaning the gutters, or general outdoor tasks.

An additional 16% of the difficult tasks mentioned were categorized as home upkeep. This category of tasks included HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) maintenance (e.g., changing or replacing the furnace filter), pest control, replacing light bulbs, roof replacement, and maintenance of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

The study concludes that:

“These results present opportunities for interventions that can help older adults remain independent in their homes longer. By understanding the nature of home maintenance problems older adults encounter while aging in place, as well as their solutions for managing difficult home maintenance tasks, interventions and redesign efforts can be more effective and address the areas of greatest need. To that end, home service providers, technology developers, home designers, and senior agencies can enable aging in place.”

Home warranty companies provide home services that can address several important aspects of safely aging in place:

Proactive attention to a problem – a person with a plan is more apt to call for service on a small problem before the issue becomes worse, and potentially dangerous. Once on-site contractors can check other systems to ensure there are no additional issues and if any are discovered they can be fixed immediately.

Expeditious response – while it may take days for a contractor from the phone book to arrive, a home protection plan company has a defined and short response time

Careful screening/vetting – home protection plans provide consumers access to fully-vetted, licensed and insured local contractors. This dramatically reduces the risk related to allowing a stranger into one’s home, particularly for elderly people living alone.

HomeServe assists homeowners with over 450,000 emergency repair jobs each year, covering plumbing, HVAC, electrical and gas. To accomplish this, we have a mix of both directly employed service technicians and a network of over 1,000 contractors across the country to meet the demands of our 3 million customers. It is therefore our job to take the customer’s call, identify the nature of their problem, confirm coverage and deploy the job to a HomeServe technician or network contractor as quickly and efficiently as possible.

A partnership with HomeServe can bring home repair programs backed by world class service to your customers. Learn more about how a partnership can benefit utilities at www.homeserveutility.com.